When Jeffrey Orridge was brought in, I was skeptical. 1.5 years later, I am starting to think he was a terrific choice.
First, he finalized the Argos sale - altho, I'm sure most of the work was done long before he arrived.
Second, he sold the Grey Cup naming right - something many of us have wanted for a long, long time.
Third, there has been a real upgrade in CFL sponsors. As someone else mentioned, we went from have advertiser like "Zoomies" to beer, trucks, movies and other higher grade advertisers. I'm sure some posters will credit TSN but the upgrades have been huge in the last 1.5 years so I believe J.O. deserves some of the credit.
Four, selling Mark's Warehouse the rights to Labour Day Weekend was clever and just another indication of the Commissioner squeezing every dollar out of this League. (* I am hoping no one says this was done BEFORE J.O. took over. *)
There are no bad revenue streams.
Last, he is looking to sell the League outside of Canada at a level other Commissioners have not. There are tons of stations looking for content. We have content. In fact, we have entertaining content. Why not get paid?
I liked Tom Wright and thought he got a raw deal. I was lukewarm on Cohon - his heart never seemed in it. I think J.O. might be a real boon for our League.
Good and very positive overview on Orridge. You should send it to him - I'm sure he'd appreciate it wherewithal the hate mail and letter bombs (hello Corky) he's receiving on a daily basis.
I think the Marks sponsorship of Labour Day was a stroke of genius. Marks prolly didn't maximize the opportunity - they should have stocked up on CFL merch and offered vast discounts on the stuff - plus a nice percentage discount for folks showing their CFL season tickets or gameday ducats.
I wasn't in the Marks in Winnipeg so I can't say for certainty they didn't do the stuff I suggested. Hopefully they'll get involved for other promotions like "Rod Black's Last CFL broadcast" or another hip session of "Pinball has a go at being Nas"
Only issue I have which I have stated in other discussions, the CFL can do way more when it comes to marketing. Use the Raptors idea, see if there is some celebrity willing to sell themselves to the league to help promote. Buy commercial time on all channels, not just CTV and TSN. Yes you cannot promote that the game is televised on a competitor channel, but you can promote the league in general as well as going to a stadium near you type of deal. Hold 1 preseason game a year in different non-cfl cities. Not to make money but to promote the league. Most of the Atlantic provinces all have university stadiums. One thing we can learn from the NFL, if you promote the crap out our yourself, you will eventually get so many blind followers, that if there are bad games, you will always have someone saying it was the best game ever. And I like the NFL... wait does that make be a blind follower.
That's fair but he really does seem to be concentrating on improving the revenue side of the CFL. :thup: It's like he came in and thought, "Yikes! We are leaving a LOT of $$$ on the table", and worked to fix it. Bravo! It sure will make him popular with the teams.
The more he does, the more I realize why they fired Cohon.
Yes. He is also very understated.
When they first introduced him, like I said, I was skeptical. He seemed to lack charisma. He was not the handsome, ever smiling Cohon, and I thought, "Ugggg, they picked a dud". But, since the beginning, he has kept his head down and looked for more $$$ to add to the League bottom line. That is what you want in a Commissioner.
Too bad the Argo ads that were shown in Toronto with the team running through the Princes Gates and the CFL ads in the subway, along with huge marketing about the $4 Shipyard/tailgate beers failed to attract any new fans.
All that marketing, talk, and news about the Argos at BMO was a waste of time and money, their attendance has actually dropped since the Rogers Centre.
Maybe the owners could give away Argo tickets next year to TFC season ticket holders at least get some young people to an Argo game.
Jealous that his TFC/MLS is not getting the attention the Argos/CFL get, even with their recent run, and that things are looking up financially for the CFL and the Argos. :lol: What a joke! Go back to the Cabbage Patch and talk about the Argos there. Seems it is the only thing you guys actually talk about. It is actually flattering.
He has really concentrated on growing revenue. Like no Commissioner before. Perhaps it is just timing? Maybe he had the connections? I am just so impressed with our advertisers in 2016. Off the charts great!
A good summary of all the positive accomplishments of the commissioner since he was hired a year and a half ago. Try telling that to Rider fans though. Just visit there site and the Jeffery Orridge thread is all about how useless he is, he has not accomplished anything, he is invisible, he is conspiring against the Riders franchise, he is the reason they can't help but enjoy having carnal relations with their own family members, etc.
He's made mistakes like anyone new on the job but he's been very effective at correcting them. His tenure has been too short to pass judgement but his ability to correct his view on doping and his ability to handle the Thorpe muck after the Jones proves he learns from his mistakes.
Also pretty tough job growing the CFL with a five to ten million dollar operating budget. I would not want that job.
The last thing I worry about is the knuckleheads Rider Fans. The day they stopped Ottawa from using the Rough Rider name was the day I started rooting against all things SRR.
I've been very impressed with the new revenue streams he's found. Again, Works Labour Day was very clever and a perfect fit.
I'll play the devils advocate on this one, although I will agree that he's done a very good job on the marketing side of things getting new revenue streams to the league.
I wish he was more visible out in the communities. It seemed like Cohon was all over the place constantly attending games and mingling with fans, and Orridge seems like the polar opposite. I also do not like the new changes they made to review this year. They've somewhat corrected one mistake dialing back the free coaches challenge, but they need to remove the illegal contact challenge.
